CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – On a night which was already a lock for the Islanders, senior Ricardo Mayagoitia and sophomore Jelena Dzinic capped the evening's celebration of tennis by claiming the top honors at the finals of the Marco & Co. Catering Islanders Open.
"We are extremely proud of our team for competing in an all-Islanders ITA-sanctioned finals," said head coach Steve Moore. "We're very pleased with the performance of all the competitors and want to congratulate Ricky and Jelena.
"From the entire Islanders Tennis family, we want to give a heartfelt thanks to two pillars of our team and our sponsors Marco and Cathy Mattolini of Marco & Co. Catering for their generous support of this event and Islanders tennis. This is such a tremendous event for the Corpus Christi tennis community, the city of Corpus Christi and the Islanders family and would not be possible with the support of Marco and Cathy."
For the second year in a row, Mayagoitia reigns supreme as the men's champion of the Marco & Co. Catering Islanders Open. The senior defeated fellow Islander Kevin Bettendroffer in straight sets, but it was not without a battle.
"This is always a really tough tournament," said Mayagoitia. "Being the first tournament of the semester, it can be hard to get back in shape and get rolling. Thankfully, I was able to find a groove and win the tournament again."
The women's final lived up to the bill as well as Dzinic and Judit Vives battled the distance after splitting the first two sets.
On the men's side, Bettendroffer jumped out a 5-2 lead in the first set, but Mayagoitia dug deep and rallied to take the opening set 7-5 after the tiebreaker. Mayagoitia never led in the first set until taking the late 6-5 advantage.
Across the complex, Vives swept through the first set, claiming a 6-0 victory before Dzinic settled in. The sophomore found her stride in the second set, bouncing back from the tough first set to even the match 1-1 after a 6-3 second set.
The second set of the men's final was a back-and-forth affair as the two Islanders traded points in a tight affair. Mayagoitia took the opening point of the set but couldn't break Bettedroffer as the duo battled on serve to 5-4.
With Bettendroffer serving to continue the match, Mayagoitia was able to break for the 6-4 set and his second title at the Marco & Co. Catering Islanders Open in as many seasons.
Much like Mayagoitia's victory in the men's final, Dzinic would earn her victory by breaking Vives in the final game of the third set. With the set at 5-3 in favor of Dzinic, the sophomore outlasted Vives in a pair of long rallies at 15-30 and 15-40 to claim her first-ever Marco & Co. Catering Islanders Open title.
The Islanders return to Thomas J. Henry Tennis Center on October 2 for the Islanders Tennis Alumni match.
